China’s Belt and Road

The two-day event is part of a broader Chinese effort to soften the image of Xi’s main foreign policy program as host countries grow more cautious and the U.S. criticizes its loan-based funding model as “debt-trap diplomacy.” Accusations of corruption, influence-peddling and unfair contracts have dogged the initiative, and a potential agreement with Italy — the first with a Group of Seven nation — drew Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini’s warning that it risked “colonizing Italy.”

‘Mini-United Nations’

The Zhengzhou conference — hosted by the Chinese government — showcased several BRI projects, including a hydro-power station in Pakistan and the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway, about a month before Xi is expected to host the second Belt and Road forum in Beijing. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said last week that this year’s forum would include attendees from more than 100 countries.

Officials and company executives played down China’s role in the projects, emphasizing the diversity of nations involved. Zhu Lintao — a construction executive involved in the Yenbo fuel power station in Saudi Arabia — called the project a “mini-United Nations” involving a Chinese contractor, German consulting firm, Spanish design company and General Electric Co. equipment.

GE has cooperated with Chinese partners on 37 gigawatts of power generation projects since 2013, said Hu Jingmiao, commercial general manager of GE Power’s China EPC Steam Power Systems. Hu said the company has provided equipment for projects in places such as Brazil, Kenya and Pakistan, as well as Saudi Arabia.

Tweaking Plans

Chinese authorities have noted examples of misconduct and are reassessing and tweaking their global infrastructure plans, a senior official who asked not to be named told in December.

Authorities have stepped up scrutiny of BRI projects and investment and are deliberating possible regulations, the official said, adding that China is ready to take measures to clamp down on misconduct.

The public was still uncertain about what a Belt and Road project is even though it’s been a catchphrase for the past five years, said Liu Weidong, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences who has focused on initiative. The selection of projects at Thursday’s seminar showed what is valued “from the government’s perspective,” he said.